New Delhi: Chemists from various states
on Monday joined a protest against new norms to regulate the sale
of antibiotics, but later ended their day-long 'bandh' after
meeting Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
A number of chemists in Delhi, Orissa, Rajasthan and
Haryana kept their shutters down in support of a bandh call by
All India Chemists and Distributors Federation.
Many others joined a demonstration near the Parliament
to protest a new schedule under the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules
to exclusively regulate antibiotics.
Five representatives of the group met Azad and asked
for further audience from him on the issue.
"We told him about our reservations on the issue and
he promised to hear us out. We will put across our views in
detail to the minister soon," Federation's president Kailash
Gupta said.
He said they told the minister that they want two of
their representatives to be on the technical advisory board
that is studying the new norms.
The Federation claimed that in Delhi the impact of the
strike was "near total" and the response was quite good in
Orissa, Rajasthan and Haryana.
Five members were also taken into custody while
defying the barriers near the Parliament, it said.
The new norms would be detrimental to common people
and will make medical treatment costlier and promote corrupt
practices, the Federation claims.
PTI
First Published: Monday, August 01, 2011, 20:51